Month: March 2019

Jesus’ brother James asked a question most everyone would respond to with a hearty “Yes.”  He asked in chapter three, “Do you want to be counted wise?” * He then goes on to tell us how.  “Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom.” ** Wisdom is not something we are born with. Wisdom comes from experience. Wisdom knows how to improvise. Wisdom is the behavior displayed by the janitor whose supervisor has instructed him to vacuum the small chapel and yet he does not do it because when he arrives with the noisy machine in hand he finds the room occupied by grieving family.  Wisdom is knowing when to make an exception to the rule.

Jazz musicians intrigue me.  The notes on the page are rarely played as written but become the guide around which the musician dances with improvisation.  Sometimes the result is marvelous.  Sometimes it is notThe wisdom was in the act of trying.  Sometimes when we improvise we fail and we learn if we are wise.  Hopefully most of the time we are successful and we learn if we are wise.

Paul wrote in Romans that we fulfill the law when we love each other.  The latter part of chapter twelve is a treasure trove of wisdom.  There he shares with us a literal bonanza of counsel that, if followed, will enable us to live the abundant life Jesus offers.  It is not a list of rules.  It is a list of ideas for those wise enough to realize good living, real living, is a fruit of intelligent improvisation.

*The Message Paraphrase.

**King James Version

Written by Roger Bothwell on February 19, 2009

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

rogerbothwell.org

II Corinthians 5 closes with Paul pleading to us to claim the wondrous gift God is offering us.  He points out that God has already done everything necessary for our salvation.  Paul implores us to do it.   He wrote, “We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

In “The Message” the paraphrased words “be reconciled to God” are intriguingly rendered, “Become friends with God, he’s already a friend with you.” Each time I read this I think of a song from one of my favorite children’s movies “Toy Story.”  It is difficult not to like Woody, Buzz Lightyear and Mr. Potato Head.  However the best part is Randy Newman’s song, “You’ve Got a Friend in Me.”  Some of the lyrics go like this, “If you got troubles I got them too. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you. We stick together. We can see it through cause you’ve got a friend in me. . . And as the years go by, our friendship will never die. You’re gonna see it’s our destiny.  You’ve got a friend in me.”

The provision God made occurred at the cross.  Without that sacrifice no one could be saved.  How grand that the one arm of the cross extends to the past and the other to the future.  Provision was made for the billions who lived B.C. and for the billions that have lived A.D.   God has friends on both sides of the cross. Abraham was a friend of God.  James 2:23

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 23, 2009

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

rogerbothwell.org

 

One of my students told me a harrowing tale of taking a shower and going blind. Almost immediately after turning on the water everything went foggy and white. Gasping in fear she raised her hands to her eyes only to discover she had gotten into the shower still wearing her glasses.  Obviously this wasn’t nearly as frightening as one of my friends who got hit in the head with a baseball and was blind for about three hours. Our eyes are our ticket to freely move about, freedom to independence, freedom to see the wonder of a smile on the face of a child, freedom to savor the beauty of a flower, a bird, a sunset or the face of one’s spouse.

One of my favorite Jesus stories is found in John 9.  Jesus gives sight to a man who was born blind.  The religious establishment tried to discredit the miracle by claiming fraud.  They made the man’s parents verify their son’s identity.  Finally they proclaimed Jesus to be an impostor.  The now-seeing man’s reply is marvelous.  He said, “I don’t know about that.  What I do know is I was blind and now I see.”

One afternoon I sat with about five hundred people and watched two theologians debate the nature of Christ.   It was such a pointless exercise. Each spoke so authoritatively.  As if they knew.  How could they?   God is beyond our finite minds.  As we left, someone asked me my opinion.  Which position did I favor?   It was such a joy to indirectly quote the man in John 9.  I said, “I don’t know about that.  What I do know is before I knew Jesus I was blind but now I see the only thing that is important.  Jesus saves.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 9, 2009

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

rogerbothwell.org

 

I’m tired of having people tell me I need to think outside the box.   I like being in my box.  My box is a comfort zone of assurance of salvation and eternal life. Jesus lives in my box.  He is very nice to live with.  He helps carry my burdens.  He assures me nothing can come my way that together we cannot handle.  Some might criticize and say that is a very narrow confined way to live, but quite to the contrary.  You see Jesus is already sitting at the right hand of the Father.   See Hebrews 1.  In John 5:24 He promises me I have already passed from death to life and on top of that I don’t have to go to judgment.  I have a “get out of judgment” card.  There is no point in judgment for those who have already received the gift.  The promise to those who overcome is they get to sit with Him on His throne. See Revelation 3.  The view from there will be stunning.  Can you imagine the music?

Until then Paul tells us in Galatians 5 that we are called to live a life of freedom.  We are free from guilt.  We are free from existential concerns. We are free to do almost everything we want to do.  I have to be honest and say “almost” everything because I am still working on a few things.  But I certainly have no desire to rob my local credit union.  The laws forbidding that mean nothing to me.   We only feel confined when we are forbidden from doing something we want to do.

Maybe others need to think outside their boxes because their boxes aren’t very nice.  But my box contains ideas that will take me out of this world.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 27, 2009

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

roger.bothwell.org

 

Two children of one of our grad students were in the hallway outside my door and one was taunting the other with a secret.  Curiosity drives us crazy when someone says, “I know a secret.  I know a secret.”  “Oh please,” we say.  “I won’t tell anyone.”   Paul had a secret he wanted to share and he did not taunt us with it.  A paraphrase of Colossians 1 reads,   “This mystery has been kept in the dark for a long time, but now it’s out in the open. God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you, therefore you can look forward to sharing in God’s glory. It’s that simple. That is the substance of our Message.”

Sometimes I think it is still a secret.  I hear sermons telling us we have to do this and that to be saved.   We are told we have to eat this or not eat that.   But the truth according to Paul is we get to share in God’s glory by having Christ in us.   It isn’t about not having mustard inside. It is about having Jesus inside to guide and direct our lives.  That’s the meat of the message.

I sometimes fear that we fear others will learn this and then we can’t control them any longer because they are free in Christ.  Please, let’s stop imprisoning ourselves and others in slavery to doing things.  The Gospel is not about things.  It is a living experience that naturally produces the wonderful fruit of care.  It is rejoicing that we are already sharing in God’s grace and being generous and wanting to share it with others.   Be happy.  Salvation is a gift.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 28, 2009

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

rogerbothwell.org

One of our friend’s first grader has proudly learned to spell the word “zebra.”  Pleased with her phenomenal new accomplishment, all by herself she sent her teacher an email exhibiting her new spelling skill.  The wonder of it all was the word “zebra” was the only word in the email that was correct!  It’s a masterpiece I hope her parents save forever.

Every once in awhile lightning strikes and we do something right.  Another friend (I really do have lots of friends.) asked me why we so often get things wrong. The answer is there is only one way to get something right but a hundred ways to get it wrong.

I know a guy (not my friend) who is nearing retirement and likes to brag about all the people he has baptized during his ministry.  If one believed all his stories one would think he was Billy Sunday, Billy Graham and John Wesley blended into one.  I don’t know, maybe he is telling the truth and I’m just jealous I can’t tell such wonders.  I just hope that somewhere in all the misspellings of my life I spelled something right at least once.  In God’s eyes I want to be that first grader.  I want to spell “zebra.”

But even if I didn’t it doesn’t matter.   Jesus is still my (our) Savior, because we aren’t saved by doing everything or just one thing right.  We are saved by grace.  Wait just a moment.  There is something we need to do right.  We need to accept His gift and tell Him “thank you.”  Yeah.  There is one thing we need to do right and letting Him save us is the rightest thing we could ever do.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 22, 2009.

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

rogerbothwell.org

 

When I was five I was very good at games.  I could always win at checkers, Chinese marbles and Old Maids.  It didn’t matter what game it was I always won.  My father tried hard to beat me.  He could stay right behind me but he never was able to catch me.  I was number one.   I’m not sure how old I was when I finally caught on.

Isn’t it strange how naïve and immature we can be?  One afternoon I was walking in the forest with a colleague and he asked me how many people I had won for Jesus.  I truly had no idea and when I told him I didn’t know he was shocked.  He had a record of his.  They were trophies to hang on his wall.  He told me he had fifteen hundred and was shooting for two thousand before he retired.  He told me he was anxious to go to heaven because there for eternity he would wear a crown with two thousand stars.  I found myself wondering how old he would have to be before he caught on.

While it is true Jesus calls us to be fishers of men, it is also true He is the one who fills the nets.  The disciples had fished all night and had caught nothing.  In the morning by the shore Jesus told them to put out the nets one more time. Instantly they filled with so many fish the boats were on the verge of sinking. Luke 5. Whenever we get to thinking we are really something stupendous,  it is good to remember being a child and always beating our fathers at marbles.

Written by Roger Bothwell on February 16, 2009

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

rogerbothwell.org

 

In 2004 the State of Texas executed a man for setting a fire that killed his three small children.  The problem is he didn’t do it.  Very exacting scientific analysis has since shown that the small wood frame house did not burn from deliberate arson.   The accidental fire occurred early December 23, 1991 after the mother had gone to the Salvation Army to get Christmas presents for the children.  The father was so anguished he had to be handcuffed to keep him from rushing into the inferno to rescue his children as he screamed, “My babies are burning up.”

As I read the story I thought of another innocent man who was executed.  Our Jesus was cruelly and mercilessly mangled on a couple of wooden bars.  The only harm He had done was to threaten the privileges of the establishment. I want to say the wrong man was on that cross.  That was a cross for Barabbas.  He was the murdering criminal.   But it wasn’t the wrong man on the cross.  If Barabbas had been executed you and I would still be hopelessly lost.   We would most likely be trying to please God by our works, a hopeless task.

Because Jesus was sinless He was able to be our substitute.  Just as that particular cross was for Barabbas there should be one for you and me.  The Good News is because Jesus was there we don’t have to be there.  Because He was innocent, He was the right man.  Nothing else would have worked.

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”  II Corinthians 5:21

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 2, 2009

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

roger.bothwell.org

 

Last night on the finale of “America’s Got Talent” an unemployed, singing, chicken catcher from Kentucky, who talks out of the side of his mouth and makes facial movements as if he had a chaw of tobacco, won the one million dollar prize.  His gift is not that he was the best singer; he wasn’t.  The lady who came in second is ready for the Met.  She is that good.  His gift was his ability to move us.  When he sings you just know it comes from the heart of his heart.  His ability to move people is one of the most valued gifts someone can possess.

I know a preacher who isn’t the world’s best Biblical scholar nor is he good looking.  He isn’t eloquent. His Hebrew and Greek are barely existent.  His off-the rack suit really doesn’t fit. He can’t sing.  He would most likely get whipped in any Biblical debate.  But when he starts talking about Jesus we want that same love experience.  He never scolds from the pulpit nor tells us how bad we are.  He just tells us how wonderful Jesus is.  That’s his power.  He moves me.

Nothing is more powerful than genuineness.  “What you see is what you get” trumps mere eloquence any day.  Sometimes we can fake it.  But if we are around people for any amount of time it isn’t long before the real us starts to show.  How grand it would be if we could grow to the place where we could be the most honest, the most caring, the person most like Jesus, just by doing what comes naturally.   Paul said it so well when he wrote, “Let this mind be in you that was in Jesus.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 18, 2009

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

rogerbothwell.org

Surely God laughs at and with us.  He made us in His image and laughter is a big part of the joy of living.  We had supper tonight with friends, one of which is an authority on the value of antique cars.  He expressed the truth that things only have value in the minds of the seller and buyer.  Something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it and the sum for which someone is willing to let it go.  I looked at him and said, “That is also true regarding your value to God.  He paid for you with Jesus.  You must be worth a lot.”   Quick as a flash my friend responded, “He got taken!” After I stopped laughing I knew God also laughed.  And when He finished He instantaneously thought, “That’s the kind of guy I want in heaven, a guy who understands the value of Jesus and who cannot imagine himself being so valued.”

When we stop to think about the cross and redemption it is outrageous.  Who would trade their son for one of us?  Paul said it so clearly in Romans 5:10, “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son.”   It is no wonder Paul speaks of the foolishness of preaching.  The story we have to tell the world is preposterous. Who in their right mind could possibly believe the creator God of the universe traded his life on a horrible instrument of torture so one of us can take His place at the center of the universe in deepest heaven?

So was God “taken”?  He didn’t think so.  Love sometimes makes us do crazy things and this is a love story.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 4, 2009

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

rogerbothwell.org